ThirtyFive35 UNDER

Ask Matthew Curren, Vice President, Busi- ness Transformation
Solutions at Falcon Consulting
Group, about his proudest accomplishment and he has a difficult
time coming up with one. “It’s
so tough to answer because I feel
like I have always defined my
successes in those of my teams,
never as my own,” Curren says.

Even the personal satisfactionthat comes with winning the Ris-ing Stars award shifted quicklyto a feeling of deep gratitude tothose who have helped him shapehis career, he says. “I think backto all of the effort that has beeninvested in me and can’t help butbe humbled by the selflessnessof those individuals and aspire toonce provide the same to thosearound me,” Curren says.

He says his willingness to listen to those mentors that have
helped him along the way has
been a big key to his success.

“In each stage of my career, Ihave had those one or two peoplewho have clearly committed tothe betterment of myself, bothprofessionally and personally,”Curren says. “There is not a pro-fessional interaction that goes bythat I don’t take away a positivelesson from.”To that end, Curren says henever stops experiencing newthings and learning new lessons.

Every day I encounter something
that I had not previously.

“It helps me continue to refinemy knowledge base and providethe deepest perspective to the cli-ents I advise,” he says. “I feel asthough I have no choice but to beon the leading edge of innovationand am constantly anticipatingchanges in clients’ needs and dis-ruptions in our marketplace.

It really is such a blast.”

As the youngest among this year’s Rising Stars of the Profession at just 26 years
of age, Sam Dawes has quite a few
accomplishments under his belt.

Sam Dawes is a manager in
West Monroe Partners’ Operations Excellence practice. He is
one of only a handful of people in
firm history to be promoted from
consultant to manager in four
years. In addition, Dawes volunteered to be just the third person
on board to startup a new office
for the firm in 2013 in Minneapolis and has been instrumental in
helping the new office grow from
three to 25 people.

“Three years ago, when I ac-cepted the challenge to be partof the startup office in Minneap-olis and transfer from Chicago, IThe biggest factor to his successthus far, he says, was making thedecision to join West Monroe rath-er than joining a larger consultingfirm. “West Monroe provided mewith a unique opportunity to takemore ownership on projects fast-er, at a younger age, and on morecomplex projects than I believeI would have had elsewhere,” hesays. “Luckily, I had managersthat trusted me enough to put mein those situations while still pro-viding me the support structurenecessary to succeed.”Dawes says being named oneof the Rising Stars of the Profes-sion, is “a validation of all thetime and effort my mentors andmanagers invested in me earlyon,’ he says. “So this is as muchtheir award as it is mine.”